Short-term rentals – so-called AirBnBs – are apparently still causing chaos in Visalia, and City Hall aims to bring scofflaw landlords to heel. They’re going after their pocketbooks.
Almost No Compliance with New Code
Just about this time last year, the Visalia City Council revamped the city’s zoning rules in an effort to bring short-term rentals (STR) under control following complaints about parking, noise and misbehaving tenants. Apparently, it hasn’t worked. So far, the city’s planning department has issued only 33 permits for SRTs as of September 24. That’s almost an entire year since the zoning law was changed.
That seems to indicate less than 6% of the city’s SRTs – rentals intended for occupation of 30 days or fewer – are operating legally. But the number of landlords complying could be lower.
It’s hard to track down how many STRs are available in Visalia at any given moment. But it’s not impossible. As of late November just a week before Thanksgiving, AirBnB.com shows there are 320 short-term rentals available in Visalia. It doesn’t mention how many are booked up. And of course they’re not the only company listing STRs here.
The website AirDNA.com says there are at least 548 SRTs running in Visalia, and it gives the market here a rating of “great.” Visalia’s SRTs are full about half the time – 52% to be exact – generating an annual per unit average revenue of $15,800 on an average daily rental rate of $157.80. AirDNA.com says that translates to $80.80 of profit per day of occupation.
Fines to Target Landlords, If City Hall Can Find Them
In an action Tuesday evening, November 12, the Visalia City Council heard plans to put some punch behind the rules it adopted in fall of 2023. An ordinance introduced that night adds fees for breaches of the rules. A first offense of the municipal code regulating the operation of SRTs will cost the out-of-line landlord $100. A second offense in the same year will cost the owner $200. The fine goes up to $500 for every offense after that.
And every day a landlord or property manager fails to correct a problem counts as a new offense.
First, however, they’re going to have to track down the properties and the people offering them for rent. Staff at the planning department contacted known STR owners and operators, as well as reaching out to “the ones we could try to find,” said senior city planner Josh Dan. They got a weak response.
He was recapping talks at a work session held on September 24 to hammer out the issue of renegade SRT operators and noncompliance. The hot topic was apparently how lackluster efforts to introduce landlords to the new SRT regulations has been so far.
“It was shared and discussed at that meeting how the rollout really was not the most effective measure,” Dan said. “We only had 45 applicants at the time of that staff report drafting.”
And it seems a dozen of those didn’t make the cut or haven’t yet. Dan said only 33 permits for SRTs have been approved.
Changing the Rules and Hunting Down Short-Term Renters
The ordinance introduced two changes to the rules already in place. The first is the addition of fees for failures to comply with the rest of the SRT code. The second is a requirement SRT owners or their agents apply in person for a new permit every year. SRT operators are, of course, already supposed to have a permit from the planning department to operate, though clearly most don’t.
The change in the frequency of renewing permits is apparently an attempt to increase the percentage of SRTs doing business legally. And paying their taxes.
But hoping landlords come to City Hall on their own isn’t going to get the job done. At least some members of the city council think so. Apparently, City Hall is hiring help to track down the landlords.
“We were also directed by your council to solicit third-party tech firms or groups out there that could help us either locate or find such operators within the city boundary,” Dan said.
City staff will use proprietary software that tracks STR advertisements as they appear. The program supplies City Hall with the locations and, importantly, the names of the owners.
New STR Rules Require Yearly Permit Approval
Visalia’s short-term rental operators – once they’re ID’d and informed of their responsibilities – must get two forms of permission to operate from City Hall: a city business permit and an STR operation permit.
“There would be an annual re-application permit that would be required,” Dan explained. “That permit and re-appliance by the applicant would be received no earlier than 60 days to expiration and no later than 30 days after expiration. I think that gives the public ample time to come to compliance.”
Anyone who doesn’t come into line will have a hard time. Especially those STR operators caught outside the law.
“A third item in this subsection really emphasizes and brings it all back home, stating that if an application is submitted or received by staff after those 30 days, all operations at the site – or if one [a permit application] is not received – all operations at the site will need to cease,” Dan said. “And that applicant is no longer considered for reapplication as a renewal, which is a shorter application process, just the cover sheet. They would then have to supply all the materials as they did once before.”
Annual Permits Will Cost Landlords $19
Getting the STR operators in compliance with the law is why the planning staff recommended requiring annual renewal of the permit to operate. It’s also about making sure they pay their taxes, said Paul Bernal, the city’s director of planning and community preservation.
“Part of this is making sure everyone is aware of ordinance changes or updates to the short-term rentals, given the information you’ve [the city council] received at other presentations,” he said. “Advising them [STR operators] of what the requirements are, making sure they’re current with their TOT [tenant occupation tax].”
The city’s other short-term rental operators, such as hotels, file monthly tenant occupation tax reports. These allow the city to assess the amount the landlords owe.
Poochigian, Nelsen Vote Against STR Code Update
This last requirement was too much for Mayor Brian Poochigian. He believes the changes to the STR code place an undue burden on the landlords who operate them.
“Full disclosure: I’ve never liked this policy,” he said. “I think it’s government overreach at its finest.”
He and council member Steve Nelsen would eventually vote against the change to city code. Final approval came in a 3-2 vote.
Poochigian said the requirements for operating an STR punish all those who operate them for problems at a single rental.
“I think there’s too much paperwork,” he said. “We had one problem house in one neighborhood, and now we’re going citywide. And like we made a small problem a big problem, and that’s why I’ve never supported this.”
However, in public testimony prior to the first changes in the Visalia zoning code, several people who live near short-term rental properties complained about the neighborhood degradation they caused. Issues included excessive noise, late-night parties, excessive occupation and dangerous parking situations.
So Mayor Poochigian believes any property owner can do whatever they please without any answering to the city, county that they live in?
Chaos at its finest.
I was at all the meetings last year leading up to this ordinance. It was all about one or two properties, and only half of the complaints you mention at the end ever came up. It’s a morning burger, best handled otherwise.